It's Another STAMPlorations Stencil Sunday

Hello and happy Sunday everyone... today for STAMPlorations Stencil Sunday I am sharing this 5x7 board canvas I created using some of my favorite STAMPlorations' products.

To create this project I used Dylusion and Heidi Swap spray dyes on the background and a heat gun to dry the sprays quickly, which gives a really lovely, watercolor effect, and I really like the shimmer that the Heidi Swap sprays leave behind. I used Dreamweaver bronze metalic dimensional paste through the Feathers and Arrows stencil and stamped these birds fromthe Trendy Birds set, and the sentiments from "Bold Sentiments-Create"  with Stayzon ink in Chai.  Brushing some black gesso over the background after everything had dried softened the colors and gave everything a bit an antiquey look and outlining my sentiments and arrows in black sharpie marker really made them stand out.

Thanks you for joining me today, I hope this quick little project inspires you to go play with some of your own products today!

Lynne Mizera, Mixed Media Artist
for the STAMPlorations Design Team


 STAMPlorations products used on this project:

Bold Sentiments - Create

Trendy Birds

Feathers and Arrows

 

"X" is for XXX Christmas And Introducing "Holly Jolly" the Grumpy the Christmas Elf

Whooo Hoo! Today is the day! It's "X" is for XXX Christmas over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

I think the entire design team WAITS for what is now our annual "Naughty Christmas" challenge, and I am no exception.  This year I am introducing "Holly Jolly" the Grumpy Christmas Elf, a new digital stamp "card character" to pair up with Dudley the Sock Monkey!

He is a wonderful digital stamp created by Christine Grove and down-loadable from Buddly Crafts where it just so happens they are having a 2 for 1 sale on all their Christmas digis.  Of course I couldn't just make one card with this grumpy elf face, so I made six cards!

And I wanted to share how quickly and easily you can create some pretty awesome cards by printing out six or more digital images, coloring or painting them all at once and then mounting them on some pretty simple backgrounds.

Using Pre-printed Christmas papers that match the image or the quote...

Using Embossing folders on plain white cardstock so your image and the quote are the focal points...

Keeping the embellishing simple with ink and Rangers Stickles and a few gems...

You can have a lot of lovely, original, hand-made cards finished up quite quickly to send to those really special people in your life.

So I hope you enjoyed my new addition to my Card Character family... I can see many, many more interesting words of grumpy wisdom in his future... And don't forget to pop on over to the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers to see what Naughty-ness my design teammates have created for this years NAUGHTY CHRISTMAS!

Lynne Mixera, Mixed Media Artist
for the Sistherhood of Snarky Stampers Design Team




 

Quick and Easy Paper Christmas Stockings That Sparkle and Shine!

Hello Everyone! Today is my day to share some Christmas Inspiration with you for my December mixed media tutorial here on the STAMPlorations blog!

And if you are like me, even though I am SUPER busy this time of year, I still want to be able to make something personal and pretty and sparkly for my table or my gifts, but also I need to be able to whip it off Quickly and if small hands can help, even better!  So I am sharing these cute and glittery and QUICK and EASY paper Christmas stockings I created from a package of stocking-shaped cut outs I found at my LDS (local dollar store).

First I used my Tim Holtz distress stains to color in the cardboard cutouts... you can't get much quicker than that and they were dry and ready to embellish in less than two minutes.

Then, using several of my ARTplorations stencils (which I will list below) and a wonderful glittery product from Art Anthology called Dimensional Crystal... I added patterns to the stockings Fronts.

I used colors that looked good against the stained backgrounds and just mixed it up, not thinking too much but going with what "felt good".

I like this product because it gives great texture using only the tiniest bit of it and it dries incredibly fast - AND it Glitters - you gotta love THAT!

While I was waiting for the fronts to dry, I then created patterns on the "backs" of the stockings by rubbing some pigment ink in soft pastel colors using a sponge applicator, heat setting the ink, and then using my distress stains over top.

The ink acted as a resist to the stains and created these lovely, subtle patterns and I had coordinating stocking backs in just a few minutes.

Once the fronts had dried I added lots and lots of dollar store stick-on bling.  (You really cannot have too much bling this time of year!)  And then I assembled my stocking , cutting off the tops of the backs and gluing the backs to the fronts to create a thin pocket in which you can slide a gift card, a lottery ticket or a candy cane.

If you add a ribbon to the side it can be hung on a tree or used as a gift tag.  Or if you add a name to the front it will make a wonderful, glittery place card at your Holiday table.  And the best part is if you create the base stocking ahead of time, little hands can help you decorate with all that stick-on bling!

So I hope you enjoyed my Christmas tutorial today and that I gave you an idea or two for your holiday preparations this year!

Happy Crafting!

Lynne Mizera, Mixed Media Artist

for the STAMPlorations Mixed Media Design Team
 
STAMPlorations products used on this project:

Retro Circles

Stars Align

Holly Background

Dots and Dashes

Sending Strength Your Way - A Mixed Media Canvas of Love

Happy Stencil Sunday everyone!  today I am sharing another project showing you how easy it is to use those stencils and to encourage and hopefully inspire you to create something with one of your stencils and link it up to this month's STAMPlorations Mixed Media, Anything Goes Except A Card Challenge. 

Here is the 4x6 board canvas I created for a special friend for whom I wanted to make something more than a card...

and to whom I wanted to send some words of encouragement and to let them know that I was thinking of them ...

I used some black gesso through the ARTplorations "Some Birds" stencil to create that lovely silhouette of birds flying against a sunset sky, and don't you just love the effect?

Now for those of you who want to know here are the steps in my process:

I lightly brushed three shades of Golden fluid acrylic paint onto the background of my canvas and some black gesso through the ARTplorations "Some Birds" stencil and let it dry.

I cut several leaves and branches from 110lbs card stock using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Holly Branch Die #657468, covered them with embossing ink and dipped them into these trays full of Stampendous Heritage embossing powders and then applied the heat gun.

I love the chunky, random effect these powders create (they are full of glitter, and fine and chunky embossing powders in several complimentary colours).  You heat each piece separately and you should make sure you do this on a heat-resistant craft mat.  Each piece can be dipped and heated several times until you get the coverage you desire.

I  assembled the holly leaves and branches onto the base of my canvas and added the berries which I painted and then covered in Rangers Liquid Pearl.

Then, using the stamping on tissue paper technique I added the sentiment.  I wanted the birds in flight silhouette to show through the sentiment, but after wards I realized that this made it harder to read.

Next time I will brush a light coat of white gesso over the area where I want to apply my sentiment so that it will be more visible.

The final step was to antique the entire canvas by rubbing a thin layer of brown spray ink over the  piece and then wiping off the wet ink, and then inking the edges of the canvas in a darker brown.  

So that's it for today, except for the cutting and embossing of the holly leaves, this project came together quite quickly (less than an hour!)  And I hope it does inspire you to go create something with your own stencils.  And this being the first Sunday in December means the start of a brand new challenge so why not get in on the action?  The design team members always choose their top three favorites and there is STUFF to be won! 

 Happy Creating!
Lynne Mizera, Mixed Media Artist
for STAMPlorations Mixed Media Design Team 
 
STAMPlorations products used on this project:

Some Birds

 

A One of a Kind TAG Using the "One Of A Kind Winter" Stamp from Susan K. Weckesser

Happy, Happy Day Everyone!  Today I am sharing an oversized mixed media tag created for my second Susan Weckesser design team project for November.  Tag making is something I have not done a lot of in the past, but I am loving it because this year I realized that: a) you have a tag which can be used instead of a card; b) that a blingy tag is such a beautiful decoration, you can wrap your gift in brown paper and it still looks good and c) you can hang it on the Christmas tree as an ornament and a memory.  Seriously Christmas tags may be replacing my Christmas cards next year!

I created this tag for a special, extra Large Gift for someone wonderful, featuring my very favorite "One Of A Kind Winter" snowman stamp  from Susan Weckesser/Unity Stamps.  I Stamped the snowman onto a piece of cardboard that came with a stamp set I bought, because I loved the subtle embossed dots on it, and I colored the hat and scarf using my Zig clean color brush tip markers.

For the background I applied a thin layer of white gesso and I stamped the small house from Susan's Create Your Day Unity Stamp set onto a page of thin white paper from a second-hand medical book I bought for $2.  The paper in medical books or Bibles is wonderful for this technique, tissue paper thin and brilliantly white, it is strong enough to hold up to getting wet with Mod Podge and sprays and mediums. 

Some seed pearls for door knobs, a foam pop dot for the sun and of course the final step with everything I do, a layer of Rangers Stickles and Close To My Heart Liquid Glass finishes everything off.

So that's my tag for today.... I hope it inspires you to go off and create something that will "Warm 3 Winter Months" for someone!
Lynne Mizera, Mixed Media Artist
for the Susan K. Weckesser Design Team
 

Susan K. Weckesser Products used on this project:

Add caption

Create Your Day

"One Of A Kind Winter"